Donation to Support Efforts to Expand Educational Opportunity in Greater Nashville
For Immediate Release
Contact:Danielle Montoya | Teach For America
646-761-2681 | danielle.montoya@teachforamerica.org
NASHVILLE, Tenn. May 2, 2012—Teach For America announced today the donation of $3 million from Tommy and Julie Frist to support Teach For America’s work over the next three years with the Greater Nashville community. The charitable donation will help recruit, train, and develop increased numbers of Teach For America corps members, and will support the ongoing leadership development of alumni in teaching, school leadership, social entrepreneurship, public policy, and other areas addressing education and poverty.
“We are so grateful for the leadership of Tommy and Julie Frist -- for their belief in the possibility of meaningful educational change and their willingness to invest their personal time, energy and resources in the effort,” Wendy Kopp, chief executive officer and founder of Teach For America said. “Their commitment to Teach For America will grow the network of teachers and of educational leaders and advocates who are committed to expanding the opportunities for Nashville's students.”
“Nashville is ground zero for educational reform and has an unprecedented opportunity to close the achievement gap that exists between students from high income and low income communities,” Tommy Frist said. “We believe that Teach For America is an essential element of any realistic reform agenda because it supplies a pipeline of reform-minded school and community leaders, demonstrates in real time what’s possible in the classroom, and attracts other leading reform organizations that wouldn’t otherwise come to Nashville without its presence.”
This year, almost 150 Teach For America corps members are reaching 11,000 students in Greater Nashville. The organization partners with traditional and charter public schools as an additional source of effective teachers for schools in low-income areas. More than 200 Teach For America alumni call the area home and continue working for educational excellence and equity from all sectors.
“The Frist’s commitment to our city and to the 79,000 children in Nashville’s public schools is an inspiration. We thank them for making a leadership gift to jumpstart the significant development effort underway as Teach For America works to build and sustain our impact in Nashville. We are proud to welcome such dedicated partners in the work to make sure every child in Nashville, regardless of their race, zip code, or socioeconomic background, has a network of education leaders working on their behalf,” Shani Jackson Dowell, executive director of Teach For America—Nashville, said.
A growing body of rigorous research demonstrates that Teach For America corps members are effective teachers. More specifically, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission conducted studies in 2010 and 2011 on the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs in the state. Both studies found that Teach For America is the top teacher preparation program in the state based on student academic growth. Additionally the study found that Teach For America has the largest share of teachers performing in the top twenty percent of all teachers statewide.
Teach For America launched in Nashville in 2009 through the leadership of Mayor Karl Dean and local philanthropic and community leaders. Corps members currently teach in more than 55 schools. Teach For America alumnus in Nashville include Kevin Huffman, Commissioner of Tennessee Department of Education; Chris Barbic, Superintendent of the Achievement School District; Natasha Kamrani, Executive Director of the Nashville Public Education Foundation.
Teach For America has a 21-year track record of preparing corps members to be successful teachers in urban and rural areas and trains more teachers for low-income communities than any other organization or institution in the nation. This gift from Tommy and Julie Frist will help Teach For America – Nashville recruit and support up to 400 teaching candidates over the next three years.
About Teach For America
Teach For America works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. Founded in 1990, Teach For America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding individuals of all academic disciplines to commit two years to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the movement to end educational inequity. Today more than 9,000 corps members are teaching in 43 urban and rural regions across the country, while nearly 24,000 alumni are working across sectors to ensure that all children have access to an excellent education. For more information, visit our website and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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